Looking Back: A peek into the Golden Eagle photo archives

Aug 11, 2010

Note: Each week, the TTU Sports
Information Staff will dig into the school's rich Photo Archives
and publish a photo from the past. Some of the photos will include
identification, but sometimes Tech will ask for viewers' help in
identifying the people shown in the photo. To submit missing
identification or comments about the photos in this series, send an
email to: sportsinfo@tntech.edu.

Featured this week: Jim Ragland
(wearing cap) served 10 seasons as head coach of the Golden Eagle
football team from 1986 to 1995, directing a program that he once
led as its quarterback. Now a member of the TTU Sports Hall of
Fame, Ragland worked with a staff that included Mike Smith (wearing
headset) as an assistant coach. With Smith and defensive
coordinator Mike Hennigan guiding the defense, Tech ranked as one
of the top defensive teams in the nation. Mike Smith left Tech to
take an assistant coaching position in the NFL with the Baltimore
Ravens, and today is the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Ragland
took over a program that was hard-pressed for victories, and he
made a bold move in 1989 by redshirting seven of his top seniors.
It paid off the following year as the Golden Eagles went from a
1-10 mark to a 5-5 record to be ranked as one of the most improved
I-AA teams in the nation. Three years later, Tech was 7-4 and
ranked in the Top 25 at the close of the season. The following
year, Ragland's squad got off to a strong start with a 5-2 record
and was listed as high as eighth in the polls before finishing with
an 8-3 record. Ragland's Golden Eagle teams posted a 36-36 overall
record during his final seven seasons at the helm.